Shiri Haines new Temple Emanu- El executive director

Shiri Haines
Shiri Haines

SAN DIEGO (Press Release)–Temple Emanu-El has appointed Shiri Haines as its new executive director. Haines, who grew up in San Diego and Orange County, spent time in the Navy and in business before taking her first synagogue job ten years ago. At Adath Emanu-El in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey, she served as an administrative assistant, and she felt so comfortable in the temple environment that she decided to make it her career. In addition, she decided to convert to Judaism.

“I loved the people there. I loved the fact that the talents I had developed while in the corporate world would be used for something good,” Haines says.

In addition to her time at Adath Emanu-El, she worked as executive director for Temple Beth Ahn Yisrael, a Conservative congregation of about 400 families in Springfield, New Jersey.

Haines comes to Temple Emanu-El after the board conducted a year-long search, and she looks forward to her tenure there. She said she likes the diversity of the synagogue and finds the staff and the congregants there to be “very welcoming.” She adds that she  hopes to strike a balance between the business side and the people side of the synagogue.

“We need to use our funds effectively so we can do what the congregation needs,” she says, adding that she enjoys the people and that “whoever walks in that door, that’s who I want to focus on.”

Haines has two adult children,  Sean, who lives in Dover, Maine, and Jay, who is a freshman at Burlington County Community College in New Jersey. She succeeds retiring executive director, Susanne Geshekter, who served Temple Emanu-El for more than twenty years.

Temple Emanu-El is a Reform Jewish Congregation that is affiliated with the Union for Reform Judaism. It serves approximately 450 family and single members.  Its educational, social, spiritual and cultural programs are aimed at cultivating a sense of family and community for all ages. The synagogue is located at 6299 Capri Drive, San Diego 92120 off Interstate 8 at the College Avenue exit. For more information, please visit the Temple Emanu-El website at www.teesd.org, or contact administrative assistant Donna Lander at donna@teesd.org.

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Preceding provided by Temple Emanu-El